LibGuides: Funeral Services : Films & Videos

About Videos

Videos can be a rich source of information for research, adding visual, sound, and movement to illustrate concepts beyond what can be described in words. Feature films and documentaries on DVD are available in each campus library, and are listed in the library catalog along with the books. Streaming video can be accessed through the library databases. These range from short educational and historical film clips to full-length movies and documentaries.

Searching for Videos

You can use the video search below (and on our home page) to find films and videos in different formats. DVDs are available for checkout and can be requested to be sent from one campus to another. Many films are available to stream.

Search our Films on Demand video collection.

or go to the Streaming Media Guide for more collections and information.

Films on Demand

Films on Demand presents films in many subject areas, including culinary topics. Films can be viewed in their entirety or section by section, making them ideal for presentations. These resources are accessible from any campus computer and by logging into the database from off campus.

Example search: death or funeral*

Example search: mourning customs

Glorious Exit (1:13:35)
Jarreth Merz, an actor of Swiss-Nigerian extraction living in Los Angeles, finds himself grappling with his heritage when he discovers that his father has died. According to Nigerian tradition, the first-born is in charge of a father’s burial. But who is this father? And why does Jarreth feel morally bound towards a family whom he hardly knows and who has never been particularly interested in him? Thus, starts a journey of discovery into his origins.
Taboo: After Death (47:02) min.)
Funerals are the most common death rituals in the world, but there are other ceremonies that involve the dead, often with very different purposes. For the Aghori mystics of India, the corpse isn’t something to be avoided, but rather embraced. This program examines the ways in which cultures both foreign and familiar confront the ultimate taboo. From the practice of exhuming the bones of ancestors in Taiwan to that of embalming the deceased in the United States, the video shows how different societies deal with death and what this reveals about their values. A National Geographic Production.
Dying in Africa: Perspectives on the End of Life in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, and South Africa (50:10)
In Africa—where infant mortality is sky-high, tens of millions have AIDS, and life expectancies can be as meager as 39 years—death is an all-too-frequent presence. This program presents sub-Saharan perspectives on the end of life: lavish Ghanaian funerals involving caskets shaped into whatever is most emblematic of the deceased; funeral rites of the Dogon, in Mali, where alcohol fermentation is attributed to the powers of the departed; the views of the Fulani of the Sahel, who do not believe in life after death; and the roles of the griot’s tam-tam drum and fire kindled by a blacksmith’s wife in the funeral rites of rural Burkina Faso. In addition, the good works of Sparrow Rainbow Village, in South Africa—the only residential facility in Africa established to meet the needs of terminally ill AIDS patients—are documented. (Portions in other languages with English subtitles,

YouTube Video Clips on Death and Funerals

You may be able to find many useful videos on culinary topics through free Internet sites such as YouTube.

Example search: funeral* and rites

Example search: mourning and customs

Remember that anyone can post YouTube videos. While there are many videos with accurate, high quality information, videos with inaccurate or misleading information have been posted as well. Before citing a YouTube video in a paper or incorporating it into a presentation, it is highly advisable to check with your instructor concerning the acceptability of the video for the assignment.

TED Talks and Playlists

Ready for a change? These well-researched and passionate talks offer ideas, advice and inspiration for all aspects of your life.

Grief is Good | Joe Primo | TEDxAsburyPark (9:04)
TEDx Talk, published July,
Joe Primo, Good-Grief.org, speaks about grief as a process to embrace and how it creates a climate of hope and resilience. (9:04).

Youth and Funerals, Funeral Service Foundation

Youth and Funerals: Understanding the important role funerals and memorialization play in the lives of youth.
(5:21) Vimeo video posted by the Funeral Service Foundation

Instructional Films

Select Series Titles:

Stuff:The Aftermath of Death (83 min.)
When his father died, filmmaker Lawrence Johnson got all his stuff. Now, he must sort and distribute the garage-sized storage unit full of his father's belongings. What is both an obligation and an albatross becomes liberating as the filmmaker sheds his own possessions to find himself. Part road movie, part meditation, Stuff is an intimate and unflinching examination of the relationship of parents and their grown up children. Through rich archival stills, live-action footage, home movies and animation, Stuff explores psychic terrain that is highly relevant today as baby-boomers enter their sixties and are confronted with the deaths of their parents and their own mortality.
Funeral Festivities, Documentary (84 min.)
Among the Senufo people of northern Cote d'Ivoire, the balafon (xylophone with calabash resonators) is an emblematic musical instrument. This film shows balafon orchestras playing in five villages during the two principal days of funeral festivities, celebrations that include the most important rites, ceremonies and rejoicings in the life of the Senufo. "Prize for the best film on the arts, 15th Parnu Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival, Estonia, 2001"